Two male ruff. Their white heads show spring has started, though they are not yet in full breeding plumage.
The first pied wagtail of this spring.
Two little ringed plovers.
Snipe.
In the southern part of the reserve, two male reed buntings and a blue tit in reed stems, gathering stuff for their nests.
Just before we leave, in the northern part, a first: a jack snipe. It is resting with its bill behind its wings, standing close to black-tailed godwits, a redshank and a little ringed plover. Then, it wakes up and starts looking for food.
The explosion at the Japanese nuclear power plant has given new fuel to a long-running dispute in Germany, where tens of thousands demonstrated on Saturday against plans to extend the life of the country’s nuclear power stations.
According to the police, some 50 000 people took part in the protest which saw a human chain spread from a nuclear power plant in Neckarwestheim to the city of Stuttgart.
Those participating in the demonstration said it was time for the German government to move away from nuclear power.
There’s every likelihood that radioactive by-products of Australian uranium have spewed into the atmosphere from the nuclear reactor plant at Fukushima in Japan.
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto export uranium from Australia to Japanese nuclear company TEPCO from the Olympic Dam and Ranger mines.
As disaster unfolds in Japan, Steve McGiffen examines how the EU promotes atomic power using unaccountable market mechanisms: here.
The two German state elections Sunday were of key importance – but the Greens found the proper keyhole. Much of their remarkable gains were based on tragedy – the horror of Fukushima in Japan and fears that one of the four ageing atomic reactors in Baden-Wurttemberg – the youngest 22 years old, the oldest 35 – might cause a similar disaster: here.
Tarkine Rainforest in Australia under threat from mining companies: here.
